THE family of a woman animal keeper mauled to death when a tiger walked through an open door say they still have questions unanswered following the conclusion of an inquest into her death.
Sarah McClay, 24, of Glasgow, was pounced on in the keeper's corridor of the tiger house at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Cumbria before she was dragged by the back of the neck into a den and then to an outside enclosure.
The animal was supposed to never have access to the corridor, but male tiger Padang walked straight through a door to where Miss McClay was as she carried out her cleaning and feeding duties in the house.
An inquest jury in Kendal ruled in a narrative verdict that Padang got to Miss McClay by entering two open internal sliding gates within the house and then an open door that led on to the corridor.
The jury found that one or more of the bolts on that door extended so as to prevent it from closing into the frame.
Following the hearing, Miss McClay's boyfriend, David Shaw, 25, said: "We will see how things move forward. We are aware that the council in Barrow is still conducting their investigation and it would be wrong of us to say anything before they have concluded that investigation.
"There are always questions that we would like answered. We know full well that we will not be able to answer some of them ever, but there is the chance that some answers may come out in the investigation in time."
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